What is bruxism and how common is it?
Bruxism is the medical term for grinding teeth. Grinding your teeth is something that's very, very common. Almost everybody grinds their teeth to some extent, especially at night while we're dreaming. It's one of the body's natural ways to release stress, just like dreams. But some people, about 20%, will do it to the point where they get really bad effects on their teeth, really worn down. And when I say really worn down, you can wear your teeth down to the point where you really can't chew on them very well anymore. I've had multiple patients wear their teeth down to the point where they've exposed nerves, and then they need a root canal. And we do not want you to have to do that.
How can you prevent damage from teeth grinding?
The good news is that there are some very simple things we can do to stop that wear from occurring, or at least minimize it and slow it down. And one of those things is using a nightguard. This is an example of a nightguard. It's just a piece of acrylic, and it's custom-made to the shape of your teeth and mouth. You put it in and wear it at night while you're sleeping. And it's balanced so that when your bottom teeth grind onto it, the bottom teeth are all balanced and you cannot grind just one tooth or another.
Why does a nightguard help with bruxism?
Most people's favorite way to grind their teeth is to find just one spot and go to town on it. I myself am a very bad grinder. And my favorite position, if I don't have a guard, is to do this. And that tooth up there, I would wake up in the morning, and it would be sore. So I made myself a nightguard. And the difference is phenomenal. I can tell you from personal experience, and I can tell you from the experience of my other patients, that you do not get the pain, and the sensitivity in your teeth dramatically drops once you start wearing a nightguard, because you're not putting these tremendous clenching and grinding forces on your teeth on a daily basis.
Why is clenching and grinding so damaging to teeth?
When we chew, our teeth, of course, touch, and we touch, and we grind, and we touch, and we grind as we go to chew, but it's just for a moment. When we clench and grind, we don't let go. So the duration of the teeth being together is much longer. And the forces that we use to clench are seven to 10 times the amount of force of when we chew. And that's why it can be so damaging to the teeth. Some people also get jaw pain from the clenching and grinding as well.
Who benefits from using a nightguard?
The nightguard will protect the teeth from excessive wear while you're wearing it at night. It will also balance the bite and take pressure off the jaw. And that works for the majority of patients. Probably 60 to 70% of patients get a very good result from the simple nightguard. Not everybody, and there are other things we can do to help those people. The first step, though, is always something simple like the nightguard.
Why is a nightguard important after full mouth rehabilitation?
I will also have my patients, if they have not gotten care soon enough to prevent a lot of wear and they've needed to rebuild their teeth and their whole mouth, build up the teeth again from all that wear, which we call a full mouth rehabilitation, then get into a nightguard to protect their teeth and to protect all the crowns and all the work that they had to have done. So that's the one and only time that they have to do all that work. We want to protect that work and protect their teeth, make sure their jaws stay balanced and comfortable, and so they don't have to do that ever again. So the goal with them is that the crowns they've had done now will last the rest of their lives, and they will just need cleanings, which requires regular maintenance and care. Just like maintaining your car, if you want it to last, you've got to change the oil and do the regular maintenance. You've got to take care of yourself and your mouth in order to have everything last in your mouth.
What if a nightguard isn't enough for my teeth grinding?
Some patients, even though they get the nightguard, still feel like the muscles in their jaw and their face are just always very tight and almost sore. Some people will actually be sore to the touch because their muscles are so overworked by it. And a good therapy for that is Botox.
To use Botox to release tension in your jaw, we will administer a few injections into the muscles on one side. And that will help reduce the strength of those muscles so that they can't clench as hard. And my patients who have had that done really like that therapy. They will always come back for more to have it done. They have to get more because Botox lasts about three months, and then it wears off, and you have to do it again. But it's very, very simple and virtually painless because it is such a small needle, in such a small dose, and the areas here are not very sensitive. So my patients have really not felt it much.
How can Botox help with jaw muscles and face shape?
The muscles of the jaw, just like if you were working out at the gym and you want to increase the strength of your bicep, if you lift weights and you work the muscle, your bicep gets bigger and bigger. These muscles in the face, if you're clenching a lot, are going to get bigger and bigger. And some people will get a very square face as these muscles get bigger and bigger.
So Botox will not only help the muscles relax, and they can feel better and not feel as tense, which can help reduce headaches in this area, as well as just not being sore in the muscles. But continued use of Botox will help slim those muscles down. And you can get more of a heart-shaped face, get that heart shape back to your face, and get rid of the squareness to those muscles, because you're not working those muscles out as hard and building them up.
If you are interested in learning more about how a nightguard or Botox could help with your bruxism, we’d love to hear from you. Call us at (321) 730-3304 or email [email protected]. We look forward to caring for your smile.